Rules
by jj1980
Summary: Episode Tag to Echoes. My contribution to the supply closet genre :- This can be seen as a sequel to The Return III of sorts, but you don't have to read that one in order to understand it I would love if you did, tho :- . Hopefully the first of a serie


Lizzie decided right there and then that sliding doors were a real pain. She really, really wished she had a normal door – any door – for her office, so she could pointedly slam it shut right now.

Silently leaning against her desk and glaring at John just wasn't the same. There should be some sound effect to use in that situation. Instead, she had to settle for the deep freeze voice.

"Okay, that's definitely it. Something has to change."

He sighed and looked away. "It could have been worse."

"Oh really? What could have possibly been worse?"

"Well…" he started, trying for nonchalance but not quite managing. "it could have been someone else. Carson seemed to take it quite well."

"That's not the point, though is it? This is exactly the type of situation I was concerned about from the start, John!"

"Next time we'll be more careful!"

"Next time? Oh there definitely won't be a next time!"

He bit his lip and looked away again. Lizzie didn't know what was more unsettling – the goings on of the last hour or the fact that they had rendered John Sheppard speechless. What she did know however was that she had never been so embarrassed in her life – and that it was all his fault.

Okay, now maybe that wasn't exactly fair. After all, it wasn't like he had forced her to do anything against her will. No, in fact she had been quite… compliant. Blame it on yet another near death scenario, but at the time the idea hadn't sounded too bad. Might have had something to do with the way he oh so simply and casually put a hand on her lower back and guided her towards that fateful supply closet. No words of persuasion, no husky suggestions, just simple determination. That and the temptation of doing something spontaneous, completely irresponsible for once had attracted her enough to end up finding out exactly how small those supply closets really were.

Turns out the thrill of possible discovery is only a turn on until you actually get caught.

She eyed him carefully. He was in trouble and he knew it – his whole demeanour screamed discomfort. Lizzie sighed. In all truth, she was as mad at herself as she was at him. He was the reckless one in this relationship; she knew that and she loved it about him. But that also meant it was her damn job to hit the brakes now and then and today she hadn't. She wasn't about to let him know that, though.

"I mean it, John, this isn't going to happen again. We had rules about this type of thing." At that, he turned his head back towards her and met her gaze and there – wait for it – there was the pout. "The puppy look isn't going to help this time!" she added, just about managing to keep a straight face.

John's face fell immediately, but then he straightened up in his chair. So all right, in retrospect, it might not have been the brightest idea to make out in a supply closet while both their hearing was still slightly impaired. Twenty-twenty hindsight and all that. But he had been so relieved to see Lizzie up and about again when he came to the infirmary, not to mention the fact the he had just narrowly avoided getting fried to nice and crispy critter by a giant solar flare – whatever the reason, he just couldn't wait to have her in his arms again. And he knew that with her damn sense of propriety and duty, there'd be next to no chance of getting her to take a short detour via one of their quarters.

Hence the supply closet. Despite the obvious humiliation, he had to grin internally at the memory.

_He didn't even hear__ the door open, which he still blamed those damn whales for – but maybe he was just too busy kissing his way down Lizzie's neck, careful not to leave marks, and feeling her hands thread through his hair in response to notice anything around them. _

_No, he didn't hear a thing; he just felt her going rigid under his touch a millisecond before it was already too late. A familiar voice gasped and shrieked in an even more familiar accent. _

"_Oh for the love of God and all that is holy!" _

_Then everything was a blur. Lizzie's hands dropping away, quickly trying to pull her t-shirt back down. Him, searching for the proper places to go for the ends of his open belt. Carson, torn between laughter and outrage._

"_You know I'm all for the blossoming of young love and everything but not in my __bloody infirmary, if you please!"_

_Lizzie just closed her eyes and took a hurried step out of the closet, as far away from John as she could, desperately trying to preserve some of her dignity. She failed miserably, so John decided not even to bother. He only smiled at the doctor apologetically in a "what would you have done?" kind of way, to which the other man responded in kind._

_Lizzie's gall was rising steadily, especially in the face of the male bonding that was apparently going on in front of her eyes. So making out in a supply closet was a male fantasy? Well getting caught was a female nightmare and she'd make sure John learned that the hard way. But first things first._

"_Carson, I'm so sorry!"_

_John also nodded, wondering why he felt like the two of them stood in the principal's office. "Sorry, yes. Exactly." On second thought, there had been a similar situation in high school that came to…_

_When he saw the look Lizzie gave him, his line of thought stopped right there and he swallowed hard, as she turned to Beckett again. "Also I'd… um, appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone…"_

_The doctor just grinned. "Aye, but next time I can't promise to be that discrete, so I suggest you should." he warned. " And now scoot, the pair of ya!"_

"There won't be a next time." Lizzie said again and frankly, John started to wonder whom she was trying to convince.

Yes, they'd been lucky that it was Carson who had discovered them. He was one of the few people who already knew of their relationship and could be trusted not to put up a notice at the Atlantis bulletin board. Just imagine, one of the chatty nurses – the news would be all over the city faster than you could say "indecency".

Which, John realized with a start, wasn't as horrid a thought as it probably ought to be. "Why are we putting ourselves through that, Lizzie? The secrecy and all that. It's not like anyone here would think less of us if we made things official."

Elizabeth was aghast. "Excuse me?"

Enlivened by her reaction, he all but jumped out of his chair and and crossed the distance between them. "You heard me. Would it be so bad if the whole city knew? It's not like they don't suspect anyway."

She just stared at him incredulously, so he went on. "Just picture it for a second, having dinner together without constantly worrying how it might look. Actually spending a nice evening together in public, like a normal couple." John paused for a moment. "Being able to show how much I really care when you're unconscious in the infirmary."

"Or when you almost drown in a damn jumper." She added in a whisper. Their eyes met and John could see the same longing he felt reflected in hers. He sighed. "Exactly."

She smiled at him sadly and lifted a hand to touch his face. But then she remembered where they were and lowered it again. "That sounds wonderful, John, but… you know that wont work. The city is one thing, but the IOA… ever since the whole Michael-fiasco my relationship with them has been strained, to put it mildly. If they found out about us, they'd have the perfect reason to effectively shut down every decision I ever make. And I don't think you'd want that anymore than I do. Atlantis comes first, remember?"

He remembered their rule number one, alright. Still that didn't mean he agreed. "Woolsey wouldn't let them do that. You saved his skinny ass!"

"Yes, but Woolsey is only one voice among many. He can only protect me to a certain point."

John bit his lip again and looked away. Okay, she might be right on that, but he wasn't ready yet to give up on the idea entirely. Taking a deep breath, he gave in to his urge to touch her by casually taking her hand in his and caressing the palm gently with his thumb. It was a concession to what he really wanted to do – so maybe it was time to make a concession in other matters as well.

"My team, that's all I ask. It's a damn pain to keep things from them constantly. And Teyla and Beckett already know anyway – because you told them, I might add."

She bit her lip and oh God, did he want to kiss her right now. Not only because she looked damn sexy that way but also because it meant that she was seriously considering this – for him, even though it went against all the rules and standards she held so dear. John felt a twist in his gut, something he became quite familiar with these days – the feeling he had when he realised that he had just fallen for this incredible woman a little more.

And it didn't even scare him – no, every time he felt it, he wanted to sing and shout out to the whole city about his happiness, the absurd but somehow real twist of fate that had that Elizabeth Weir love him back. He just wanted everyone to know that she was his – hence the current discussion.

Eventually, Lizzie sighed. "Okay. Your team, I give you that. McKay and Ronon and that's it. And make sure that they know I'll personally feed them to the Wraith if they spill this to anyone."

John felt a grin split his face. "Seriously?"

She smiled back, apparently happy about his joy. "Seriously. But maybe you shouldn't drop this on them like a bomb."

"Don't underestimate me 'lizabeth, I wasn't planning to. Opportune moment and all that."

She smiled and bit her lip again. "Right, Captain Jack would be so proud."

John looked at her lips, the laugh lines and the twinkle in her eye. "Lizzie, if you keep looking at me like that the whole city might just find out right away."

She frowned. "How's that?"

"Because the walls of your office provide even less privacy than that damn closet."

She actually grinned. "So, flyboy, how about the privacy of your quarters?"

He raised an eyebrow. Was she suggesting…? "You mean… now?"

She let go of his hand and walked casually around her desk, before she looked at him again. And this time, the twinkle in her eye had turned into an all out mischievous spark. "Give me half an hour to get things straight here. I don't want any… distractions."

One side of John screamed at him not to be an idiot and just to take what was offered without question. The side that won, however, knew Lizzie too well to just let this go.

"What about the rules?"

Lizzie actually laughed. "You know, if there's one thing I learned from you in the last three years, it's that some rules need to be broken every now and then."

"Bad influence?"

She nodded, still grinning. "Oh yeah. And I like it."


End file.
